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Herewith the results of the photographic competition that took place during the weekend that the Cape Town Photographic Society spent in Stanford in celebration of their 125th anniversary.

Richard Goldschmidt’s photograph of the Kleinrivier is a great shot of one, if not THE gem, of Stanford’s tourist assets. The magical weaving of water, sky and mountains makes for a worthy winner. Richard’s prize is two nights for 6 at Eagleyes Guest House.

Pat Scott’s entry of 5 (or 6, or 7?) different birds in one photograph illustrates the richness of Stanford’s Avian bounty. She wins the wonderful book Portrait of a Village by Stanford’s own Annalize Mouton. Hopefully its contents will draw Pat back to Stanford in due course.

The third prize goes to Kim Stevens for her a lovely study of lines taken of the Mosaic Farm Jetty. A case of Stanford Wineries best will I am sure help cement an ongoing relation between Stanford & Kim.

The weekend was enjoyed by all by all the photographers. Amongst many highlights, they were treated to a preview of local birdlife photographer Richard Masson’s soon to be released book, “A hundred Birds in my Stanford garden”. This book is a wonderful example of birding Stanford style and is an invitation to all birders to visit our area to see the ± 150 other species recorded in our area.

Eagleyes are putting together a special weekend to host at least four teams of four to enter S A Birdings big day on 27th November 2015. More on this later.

Reminiscent of days gone by in Arniston, the Williamson clan chose to get together for the first time in many years. The above photograph encapsulates the happiness, strength and energy reflected by various members who had in some instances not been together for many years. Eagleyes was the perfect venue for this unique weekend, hosting 14 people with ease in consumate luxury & class that went a long way to making this Stanford–based happening the event that it was.

Braaing on a generous fire – of Dante‘s proportions, Steve Leith, braaimaster of note, cooked up a storm that was the centrepiece of a feast fitting for the occasion with 18 seated comfortably in the dining room. Memories were stirred, stories recounted and a wonderful weekend was enjoyed by all. Everyone present were generous in their praise of Eagleyes as the perfect venue for such a gathering.

This amazing Western Leopard Toad, a critically endangered South African endemic, has taken up residence at Eagleyes Guest House in Stanford and had his pic taken by Albert Froneman, highly acclaimed wildlife photographer. Stanford is considered the furthest point this unique amphibian is found from the coast. Their protection in this area is vital and a newly soon to be formed Stanford Frog initiative is being put in place to ensure this species’ survival. In the meanwhile our resident expert, Naas Terblanche, can be contacted at info@vaalvlei.co.za should you need any further information on this extraordinary conservation gem. Failing this, please contact Royd Frith at 071 128 5533 or mail to info@eagleyes.co.za.

“The Western Leopard Toad lives in Cape Town and the Agulhas Plain. As such it shares its home with millions of Capetonians. As toads go, it is larger than most and exquisitely marked. It happily co-exists with humans in the suburbs, and would be just another beautiful inhabitant of Cape Town if it were not for the fact that it is an explosive breeder!

Every year, for a few days usually in August, toady goes a courting. This is unusual in that it is confined to less than a week a year. Thousands of toads migrate to suitable ponds. There the males snore and fight for the females. The females lay their eggs and depart, migrating back to their gardens. The exhausted males follow later when no more females arrive at the pools.

Again, this would be perfectly natural were it not for the fact that we have built roads and highways all around their breeding ponds.

And so every year there is a problem that potentially thousands of toads end up pancaked on our roads

Fortunately, there are volunteers who, every year while toads only have sex their minds, man the roads, rescuing toads, controlling traffic and preventing a blood bath. We need your help to save our toads. The frenzy lasts for only two to five nights a year, but in that time the next generation of toads is created or doomed.

Identification

The Western Leopard Toad can reach an impressive size of about 140 mm in body length. Like all toads, it has a rough skin and two large parotoid glands on either side of the head and neck region behind the eyes. It has a beautiful pattern of chocolate to reddish-brown patches with a bright yellow or black edging, on a pink or grey background (although duller individuals are also found). There is usually a yellow stripe running the length of the back between the patches. The underside is granular and cream-coloured, with males having a darkish throat.

Other toad species that occupy its habitat in places, generally have a duller brown to greyish upper surface colouring, covered in darker blotches and smaller markings. These species are: the Raucous Toad (Amietophrynus rangeri); the Sand Toad (Vandijkophrynus angusticeps); and the Guttural Toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis), an introduced species in the Constantia area of the Cape Peninsula. Of these, the Raucous Toad is the most similar, but besides colour and pattern differences, it usually has only one elongated patch between the eyes, instead of the usual two of the Western Leopard Toad. It also does not occur on the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, which is the best known distribution area of the Western Leopard Toad, but occurs throughout the remainder of the Western Leopard Toad’s distribution area.

The advertisement call is a deep pulsed snore that continues for about a second and is repeated every three to four seconds. It can also be described as sounding like a tractor or motorcycle engine, or a very loud “purr”. The call is quite different to that of any other frog species in its distribution area, including its nearest relatives. For example, the Raucous Toad makes loud, duck-like quacks, repeated incessantly, and the Guttural Toad has a constantly repeated vibrant snore.” – http://www.leopardtoad.co.za

LISTEN TO THE TOADSNORE IF YOU HEAR THIS IN YOUR AREA YOU HAVE WESTERN LEOPARD TOADS BREEDING NEAR YOUR HOUSE! PLEASE LET US KNOW ON THE HOTLINE

The Chairman and Committee wish to thank you most sincerely for your extremely generous offer of Eagleyes Lodge where 5 of our guest speakers and their partners stayed for the duration of the first Walker Bay Bird Fair – an event which attracted numerous visitors and which has been acclaimed by all who were there. No doubt the success of this year’s event will encourage others to participate and exhibit and we look forward to even bigger and better fairs in the future.

Your individual participation in organising Eagle Encounters and extremely generous support did much to enhance our offerings and we thank you most sincerely for being prepared to spend your own time to be part of this pioneer fair – the fair’s success is dependent upon people like you giving it your support. For the children from the community, the Eagle Encounters demonstration was entertaining and educational, an aspect that future Bird Fairs need to focus on a great deal more.

The Fair Committee are now going to have to re-commit and get going on the 2016 programme and we look forward to being able to enhance the Fair to new and greater heights.

Again, many thanks and kind regards

Debbie Alexander

Monday 9th March 2015

Dear Stanford Bird Club Members

On behalf of the Chairman and Committee of the Walker Bay Bird Fair, I wish to thank you all for making the first Walker Bay Bird Fair a runaway success. We could not have pulled this off without the time, effort and expertise volunteered by those club members who gave so willingly. The Bird Fair attracted numerous visitors and has been highly acclaimed by all who attended. No doubt the success of this year’s event will encourage others to participate and exhibit and we look forward to even bigger and better fairs in the future.

The Fair Committee is now going to have to re-commit and get going on the 2016 programme and we look forward to being able to enhance the Fair to new and greater heights. Having taken the step of joining forces with the Hermanus Bird Club to co-host the Fair Bird, the venue for 2016 is yet to be decided. Considering that the Stanford Bird Fair, for 9 years, was the precursor for the 2015 WBBF, and really where it all started, there is a case to be made for Stanford to host this event annually but without the support of the SBC, local business and enterprise, it is understandable that we would have to consider Fernkloof as an alternative venue to the Stanford Village Green, or at least to alternate the annual event, Fernkloof in 2016 and Stanford for 2017.

The draw for the WBBF Raffle will take place on Friday the 13th March. We have asked the Editor of the Hermanus Times to do the honours, complete transparency and no favours!

We would really appreciate feedback from all of you about the Fair. Without constructive comment, good and bad, it’s hard to judge whether this has the support of you, our members.

With our Lodge now beautifully complete, and its magical eclectic garden in summer bloom there is much to go mad about. Stanford has never looked better, new eateries have popped up, old ones have gotten even better – Mariana’s, KC’s, Springfontein Eats, Stanford Harvest, Stanford Hills Tasting Room, Havercrofts, Madre’s & “much more munch” more. Stanford Treasure Trove to be explored and birds abound (37 species so far in the Lodge’s garden). The braai is stacked with the very best rooikrans. Saturday markets are in full swing, breakfast at Tiffany’s (i.e. Coffee Corner, Graze, Stanford Table & Evergrine, etc.). The wine harvest has begun. Sample the best of the numerous Stanford vineyards with input from Stanford Tourism. It is also the perfect time of the year to go big on the Kleinrivier, Stanford’s own gem.

If you want to sample the essence of “Stylish Stanford” self-catering, now is the hour. To have a look at this new dimension in Stanford accommodation, go to www.eagleyes.co.za

EAGLEYES are offering the following March Madness two-night minimum specials.

We are still in the process of researching exactly when Eagleyes Guest House (34 Bezuidenhout Street) had been built. At this stage all we know is that it was built in the early 1900s by either Hendrik Vermeulen or his son, George. The Vermeulens were a well-known Stanford and Overberg family and builders of reknown. You can read more about them here: The Vermeulens of the Overberg

The house was most probably built for Mr Pieter Stephanus de Villiers, known as “Apie”, of the farm, Bovendrift near Stanford, or for his mother. Apie was a well-known businessman in Hermanus and Stanford. In 1951, six years after the death of his father, Abraham Pieter Matthys, Apie, his mother, Martha Cornelia Susanna, and unmarried sister, Martina Cornelia Susanna (Tienie), went to live at 34 Bezuidenhout Street. Tienie de Villiers outlived both her mother and brother, and in 1979 when she moved to the old-age home in Gansbaai, the house was sold. In a letter (postal stamp on envelope: 5 March 1979) to Tienie from her niece, Gerrie, in which her last municipal account was included, Gerrie also mentioned that a certain Mr Otto’s sister-in-law bought the house from a Mr Thys Erwee. Who this “Mr Otto’s sister-in-law” was, is still uncertain.

Tienie & Pieter “Apie” de Villiers

Tienie de Villiers

Pieter “Apie” de Villiers’s driving lisence

Pieter “Apie” de Villiers

Obituary of Pieter “Apie” de Villiers

Tienie de Villiers on the left

Tienie de Villiers’s last Municipal Account

In 1983, 34 Bezuidenhout Street was bought from another Mr De Villiers by the Pieters family, and they lived there from 1983 to 2013.

In 2013 the house was bought by Royd and Lindsay Frith who fastidiously renovated it and brought it back to its former glory under the watchful eye of renowned local heritage architect, Maureen Wolters.